Curse

Sir_Sid · May 03, 2005, 03:46 AM // 03:46

But I rarely see this combo.

Whats wrong with going in with your bow from afar, then going in for some close quarters with your sword?

heero_fox · May 03, 2005, 03:53 AM // 03:53

I think the problem is that they are complete opposites. Ranged vs Melee.

Most people want to either stand back on the sidelides and pick people off, or be up front hacking and slashing, not both.

Not only that, but I think the secondary profession is supposed to support the primary, not be a standalone profession. Much better to have buffs from your secondary monk than to be able to switch to a sword to fight a warrior 1 on 1 (and lose because he has much better armor than you).

Sir_Sid · May 03, 2005, 04:01 AM // 04:01

Hmm, I never thought of that before. It was your reply that led me to create a new thread under the warrior catagory.

I use my second class as a totally different playing style. I must admit, though, I *am* tempted to create a new character. (This would be my third one). I am kind of leaning towards Warrior/Monk - but I have a feeling that they are going to get nerfed soon..

Jimbo Shootselot · May 03, 2005, 04:19 AM // 04:19

one of the better skill combos that i have found is the reading the wind/frenzy. it doubles your fire rate and then makes it 33 percent faster than double. the only downside is you take double damdage...but your a ranger so stay the hell away from the people your shooting from and take no damage

Bad_Monkey6186 · May 03, 2005, 04:30 AM // 04:30

at least a third of your attribute points are meaningless depending on what weapon you use, so its inefficient.

If you're using a bow, you probably have points in marks, and for a ranged, you'll have points in, lets say, swords. Meaning you've got something thats uselss on your skillbar everytime you switch weapons.

Its just impractical

Edit: but frenzy is perfect for rangers

Sir_Sid · May 03, 2005, 04:37 AM // 04:37

I never even thought about using frenzy with bows!!

Ariakis · May 03, 2005, 04:42 AM // 04:42

Personally, my R/W is actually a Warrior by skill usage. I keep Tiger's Fury and Troll Unguent for emergencies, but I primarily use high Expertise and take advantage of the energy-dependent Sword skills. This lets me reserve my Adrenaline for shouts and a few adrenal sword skills. It's a bit of a disadvantage to have slightly worse physical armor than a normal warrior, but with Studded Leather I can stand up to lightning (which seems to be the most common element for picking off meleers) unlike any other class.

Effectively, I'm a Warrior with Tiger's Fury instead of Frenzy (i.e. safer =D), with a better energy pool, better regen, and more specialized elemental armor, lacking only slightly in physical defense.

Dreamsmith · May 03, 2005, 05:40 AM // 05:40

I played a R/W during one of the beta weekends. It's actually quite a good combination. Since you're not in the thick of things most of the time as an archer, Frenzy doesn't really have any downside for you, it's just bonus damage (note: a 33% increased attack speed equals a 50% increase in damage, since if your attacks only take 2/3rds as long, you get 3 attacks in the time you'd normally get 2; that's a 50% damage increase). Tiger's Fury gets you the same, but it's more expensive and has a longer recharge.

You don't really want to be weapon switching, you waste too many attribute points trying to support both styles of play. But an R/W can be either an archer or a melee fighter, and as long as you concentrate on one or the other, either can be an excellent R/W build.

Jackell · May 03, 2005, 07:45 AM // 07:45

Frenzy and the Rangers stances with a sword.

Bah-zing!

Bad_Monkey6186 · May 03, 2005, 08:15 AM // 08:15

In case you don't know, and I may be missing something, you can only have one stance running at a time...

and Frenzy is a stance

just checking though

Akshara · May 03, 2005, 10:39 AM // 10:39

Ranger/Warrior is one of the builds I'm working up right now in PvE (along with Mes/Ele), specifically for eventual PvP play. However it's more for the Tactics line rather than the pure swordplay, since Rangers have many skills for dealing with melee attackers.

There are many benefits to going with Ranger as the primary class over Warrior if one is more interested in the disrupting or infiltrator warrior style rather than being the tank. It's also good for those more interested in taking the ninja/assassin approach. Rangers can be much more than just long range attack specialists, as they have many skills which support infiltration and disruption, along with buffs through skills and items against Elemental damage that the Warriors don't get.

According to the Professions tutorials here, Strength is mainly about being able to wear better armor and take/dish more damage in melee. If one is going to rely on skills more than pure raw power, then taking Expertise offers many skill related enhancements, along with better skill point management.

In my opinion and from what I've read in the articles here, the Ranger/Warrior class has many possible variations that could be a potential asset in team play. Of course we'll have to see if that holds up in more advanced application, but from my perspective so far it would seem that Ranger/Warriors are the potential antidote to Elementals and Monks - possibly even moreso than Mesmers appear to be.

Jackell · May 03, 2005, 10:50 AM // 10:50

Yeah, I meant to say Frenzy and the other Rangers stances.

lol Amazing how dumb one word can make you sound.

cpukilla · May 03, 2005, 12:14 PM // 12:14

I'm playing a ranger/warrior right now. Frenzy is great with the bow, really boosts your attack speed! Once I find some traps I am going to switch to expertise/wilderness/hammer and go melee. I really need oath shot to make this work though so hopefully I can find it.

catharsis · May 03, 2005, 01:40 PM // 13:40

Here's a thought for a melee-oriented R/W...

Barbed Trap + Gash + Victory is Mine

Anybody caught in the area of the trap is bleeding and crippled, gash one more enemy for a deep wound... That's minimum three conditions fueling Victory, which means a minimum of 15 energy back, repaying the trap in full.. You could easily afford to toss in a few more energy-driven strikes like Power Attack... esp. if you've got Expertise going...

Talizar · May 03, 2005, 02:30 PM // 14:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ariakis

Personally, my R/W is actually a Warrior by skill usage. I keep Tiger's Fury and Troll Unguent for emergencies, but I primarily use high Expertise and take advantage of the energy-dependent Sword skills. This lets me reserve my Adrenaline for shouts and a few adrenal sword skills. It's a bit of a disadvantage to have slightly worse physical armor than a normal warrior, but with Studded Leather I can stand up to lightning (which seems to be the most common element for picking off meleers) unlike any other class.

Effectively, I'm a Warrior with Tiger's Fury instead of Frenzy (i.e. safer =D), with a better energy pool, better regen, and more specialized elemental armor, lacking only slightly in physical defense.

No Str so your damage might be lacking.

Ariakis · May 03, 2005, 04:39 PM // 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talizar

No Str so your damage might be lacking.

Yeah, that's something I'll have to deal with. So far, I can stay ahead of the game with decent equipment. Also, I've been able to alternate between Pure Strike, Seeking Blade, and Power Attack for the ability to spam skills, allowing me to keep up with the damage of an adrenal Warrior with Strength. I'm sure this ability will diminish with time, but so far I've been able to outdamage every warrior I've grouped with by smart conservation and burst usage of Energy.

Rellok · May 03, 2005, 08:31 PM // 20:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talizar

No Str so your damage might be lacking.

I do believe that Strength only offers you armor penetration on normal attacks, not skills, so if you are using skills for most of your attacks, the bonus from strength really isn't that big of a deal. Plus the armor penetration bonus is 1%/level so most people won't see much more than 10% from it. It's something, but when it's only on regular attacks..meh.

I mean, you need to figure out how your character is going to be played, but most of the time, with a sword warrior, you have sever artery every 4 attacks, so if you add in other skill attacks you will probably be at 1/2 or less being normal attacks.

Matt

Kha · May 03, 2005, 08:53 PM // 20:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warrior Guide

Strength is a Warrior’s primary only attribute. It gives a Warrior armor penetration when using attack skills.

Quoted from Warrior Guide.

Beqxter · May 03, 2005, 09:09 PM // 21:09

This is exactly the thread I've been looking for. I'm on my first build and chose a R/W with weapon-switching in mind. I was thinking of using range most of the time, and switching to melee when someone got up close. But in practice, I find this doesn't work very well. It's OK in the wilderness, but in arena I usually get creamed by a warrior, and find it's more effective to run away and hope he gets distracted/killed by a teammate than to take a stand.

I'm also having doubts about beastmastery with this build. Again, in the wilderness my pet does a good job of keeping the bad guys at bay so I can wail on them with the bow, but in PvP the opposite team member usually ignores my pet and just comes at me (see above RE: running away).

What do you other R/W think? Ditch the beastmastery and go into expertise/marksmanship?

Lank · May 03, 2005, 09:19 PM // 21:19

Predatory Season + AoE Melee = D: